The scariest email I ever wrote (why I closed my shop)
I don’t know if I ever actually told anybody this (and this will come as no surprise to you if you know me), but I started my business on a whim: I was in my 3rd year of TCM school and MISERABLE. Sitting through classes that were about taking action felt like torture to me, because all I wanted to do was take action myself. I’d been seeing clients and making formulas for a while, and they’d been really effective, and I loved working with plant medicines. What I didn’t love was sitting still, behind a desk, listening to people talk about things that I would be doing in a few years when I had a degree.
So I quit.
And I launched Kings Road Apothecary.
And I’d like to say that these decisions took a lot of mulling over, and that I thought carefully about my path and my future, but it was no such thing. I’m pretty sure I decided on a Friday, and was gone by Monday, and had started an LLC by the next week (for what its worth, I decided to get married on a Monday and was married on Wednesday so this is a recurring pattern for the best decisions of my life).
That was 10 years ago, and those 10 years have been utterly magical: I have been able to be elbow deep in plant-medicine-making; spend time with plants; spend time in nature; meet the most AMAZING humans; connect with customers who’s names I have been seeing since I first started. Magical. Unreal. Utterly grateful.
Since moving to the mountains, things started to get hard, and I was hitting road blocks at every turn: weather, finding assistance, dealing with overheads, and dealing with the fact that I have a growing student base who I *want* to be giving most of my attention to. I don’t have it in me to keep doing both long-term, and considering that I spend so much time talking about burnout, and pacing, and being kind to ourselves, well, I am going to take my own advice, and not run myself into the ground.
Which brings me to this:
I’m going to close Kings Road Apothecary for good this December, when I close for the holidays after the last orders go out on December 20th.
Was this an impulsive decision, kinda, yes. But it feels right in the way that dropping out of school felt right, and getting married felt right: simultaneously terrifying and exciting.
So.
My plan is this:
1. Sell all remaining products in the store
2. Send out the best 3 surprise boxes I have ever made and will ever make
3. Close the online store on December 20th
4. After Dec 20th: sell all materials, gallons of macerating tinctures, alcohol, oils, salts, packaging, a 3-part sink (if anyone wants one), shelving, etc.
5. Donate (or sell at an extreme discount) what’s left over to someone, or someones, who needs a hand starting a herbal products business and can’t get a leg-up.
**If you have a surprise box subscription, I’ll be emailing you: there will be 3 more surprise boxes and I can either give you a store credit for what you have remaining, or can refund you for what’s left.**
The main reason I’m doing this is because I want to focus on the things that have become so important to me: this newsletter; my course(s) <— surprise coming in a month!; retreats; and eventually a Kings Road Apothecary recipe book (that I’ve been wanting to write for years but haven’t had time! And that way you can make all the products you love yourself.).
For what its worth, I’m a bit terrified: not only has this business been my life for 10 years, but it’s my main source of income! But I don’t have bandwidth to make this business as good as it can be AND make my courses as good as they can be, and I have to choose one. So I choose what’s new, and moving forwards into the great unknown.
I’ll be saying this again, over and over, but I cannot tell you all how much your business and support has meant to me for the last ten years. To be a creative person in the world, and have your work received, loved, and paid for by other humans; I cannot think of a greater joy, or honour. I hope that this can continue as my work becomes more about writing, teaching, and immersive experiences than potion-making.
So much love,
Rebecca